36170
W. Britain
On Sunday, June 18, 1815, the Duke of Wellington recoded in his dispatches "at about ten o'clock Napoleon commenced a furious attack upon our post at Hougoumont," thus starting the fighting at Waterloo.
This brick and stone chateau became the epicenter of fighting on all the allies' right flank and Nepoleon continued to direct attacks toward it all afternoon, 33 battalions in all.
Wellington sent the Light Companies of the 1st Foot Guards, the Coldstream Guards and the Scots Guards to bolster the garrison there consisting of the 1st battalion, 2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment and detachments of Jagers and Landwehr of the 1st Hanoverian Brigade.
There troops were told to hold the ground "at all costs" and successfully defended the chateau and the farm against the onslaught of over 14,000 French infantry and the French bombardment that ruined the property.